Comics Review: Steven Universe #11

The last Steven Universe comic of 2017, but is it worth picking up?

Overview (Possible Spoilers Below)

This month’s issue begins as Steven visits Lars & Sadie at The Big Donut where he learns about an Autumn pumpkin-themed cookoff event Mayor Dewey is doing called “The Taste of Beach City” but Sadie tells him he can only enter if it’s a business which encourages Steven to come to the help of Lapis & Peridot at their barn asking if they’d like to partake in this with Lapis saying yes while Peridot is unsure if they’ll get something out of it. When they go to harvest veggies at the garden, Lapis & Peridot’s living Pumpkin pet isn’t comfortable with the idea of its own species being eaten and they decide to use other fall-themed veggies instead.

While most of the pages have very little dialogue during the cooking montage, It leads to some creative & comedic scenarios between the three including the practical ways Lapis uses her powers that must be seen to be believed. When the cookoff begins, Mayor Dewey tells people to vote on what gimmicky pumpkin-themed foods are declared the best which all seems fine, until a saboteur is at foot ruining people’s pumpkin-themed foods with Lars & Sadie being the next target. At first, everyone thinks it’s Amethyst given her excessive eating habits, but the twist at the end becomes more obvious when it reaches the story’s third act. When a winner is announced, the underwhelming prize makes all the contestants go “Meh” but the comic ends on a comedic note when Steven and the contest winner both help Peridot feel better they let her hold the prize button which makes her jump around with glee.

Our Take.

With the ongoing joint-efforts of Grace Kraft’s writing and Rii Abrego’s colorful art style of that replicates the show itself, Kaboom entertainment’s current run keeps delivering with it’s “Lost Episode” format in spades. While comic itself had an obvious & predictable twist at the end that was easy for readers to figure out, what compelled me to keep reading was wondering who would the winner or the prize could be, along with seeing the creative use of Lapis’s powers in a cooking scenario but the ending did bring a smile on my face.

Though reading this now, it’s obvious this story could’ve worked within Seasons 3-4 episodes given the recent dramatic changes that were made with nearly everyone within Beach City after the Season 5 episodes Dewey Wins and Raising the Barn.

Score
8/10